The problems registered with water at the Praia do Ouro in Sesimbra, which led to the ban on baths, originated in irregular discharges from waste from the fishing port, the municipality said Monday.
“After the fieldwork developed in recent days by technicians of the City Council, Simarsul and APSS, it was proven and assumed by the present that the incidents that caused the constraints in the operation of the WWTP were resulting from irregular discharges from the port of Sesimbra in the wastewater system”, in the district of Setúbal.
The communication comes after an urgent meeting between the Sesimbra City Council, A, the Setúbal and Sesimbra Ports Administration (APSS) and Docapesca following and a routine analysis of water from Praia do Ouro determined its closure at the end of Thursday.
The meeting was held in the Paços do County, at the request of the mayor, Francisco Jesus, “to address last week events, which undermined the proper functioning of the Sesimbra WWTP and the effective treatment of the municipality’s wastewater.”
The beach had been blocked in the late afternoon of Thursday, after a routine analysis of the Portuguese Environment Agency (held on Tuesday and with results two days later) revealed changed parameters, having been reopened on Friday after an analysis with “results compatible with bathing practice”.
Praia do Ouro has a blue flag, gold quality flag and its waters have had “excellent” result since 2011.
On Thursday, in statements to the Lusa Agency, the president of the municipality, Francisco Jesus, said that as soon as he was informed of the case contacted Simarsul – Sanitation of the Setúbal Peninsula, SA, responsible for the management and exploitation of the Setúbal Peninsula Multimmunicated Sanitation System. Fridays).
Francisco Jesus said he was still outraged by the situation, particularly because the “discharges were only participated to APA for ’email’ on Monday, on August 4 and 11.
On Saturday Simarsul – Sanitation of the Setúbal Peninsula – considered it to be “little likely” any direct relationship between the functioning of the infrastructure and the results of an analysis of water quality.
In a statement, Simarsul indicated that he recently identified “the occurrence of improper influential to the municipal drainage network, containing high amounts of fish and scales remains”, adding that the situation is oblivious to its responsibility and “originated two occasional operating anomalies at the Wastewater Treatment Station (WWTP), which were promptly resolved”.
The company assured that the occurrences were immediately communicated to APA and the Sesimbra Chamber.
“It is also important to clarify that Simarsul treats the wastewater referred to it through municipal networks, after which he returns the sea treated water through submarine emissary away from the coast, fully complying with the applicable legal and environmental requirements,” reads the note.
At the meeting held today among the various entities, according to a statement of the municipality, was a commitment to improve communication, to allow a faster intervention in case of need and was defined, on the proposal of the City Council, the urgent survey and mapping of the infrastructure of the Sesimbra Port System and internal rainfalls, involving the entities present at the meeting today and APA.
“It is intended, in this way, that the technical solutions are found so that the situation in recent days is not repeated,” the municipality added.
